By Lindsay Adams
Try not to laugh at me, but I recently learned a new term: sweat equity. It refers to “the non-paid investment of time and effort contributed by an individual to build or improve a business or property.” I suspect that maybe I’m the only person reading this blog who hasn’t heard of this term, but here we are nonetheless.
As a person who loves words, I love this term because two simple words create such a strong and evocative image. For me, it invokes a burly guy carrying housing materials in the hot sun, beads of sweat streaming down his face. In the background, there’s a run down house that’s seen better days. But, in the thought bubble above burly guy’s head there’s an image of a gorgeous house with two kids playing in the yard and the guy and a beautiful partner sitting and drinking lemonade on a little swing hanging from the porch.
That, my friends, is sweat equity. You work hard for something, and even if you don’t get money out of it, you get the promise of some sort of return. Some sort of “better life”. Maybe it’s a better place to work, or maybe it’s a prettier home. Either way, you’ve put in the work and reaped the reward.
But, what happens if you put in all the work for a chance at creating something, but you don’t end up with any of the promised rewards?
Well, that’s the sweat equity of teaching. Let me explain.
Education is built on the back of unpaid labor. In fact, unpaid labor is woven into the fabric of educational policy and scheduling. Teachers are contracted workers. That means that we have set hours we are supposed to work, and most of us are on 10 or 11 month contracts (I have worked both). So yes, when a teacher tells you we don’t get paid for summer, we literally don’t get paid. Like, we are unemployed for summer. We’re not even necessarily guaranteed a job after our contract is up and contracts are typically only for the 10 or 11 month period. So job security, especially as a young teacher, is very small.
Ok, so I’ve established the fact that we are contracted, and established that we could lose our teaching position at the end of the school year — ESPECIALLY if a school’s attendance numbers drop. Still, some of you might be thinking that teaching is a pretty sweet job. Set hours, summers free, etc etc.
Well, we actually don’t have time to do things we need to do within our contract hours, and that is one of the many places that teaching as a career is broken. Teachers have what’s called a “prep” period. This is a “free” period where teachers are supposed to do all of our: prepping, printing, grading, and parent contact. If you’re in the teaching world (but not of the teaching world) then you may have heard the term “two preps”. Typically, this means that a teacher has two separate classes…but that doesn’t mean they have two free periods. LOLno. Only one free period to prep two classes.
But the thing is: those prep periods are always eaten up by other things. At my school, I have a grade level meeting once a week at least. Often, I have another meeting scheduled during the week on top of grade level. So, for me, that’s an average of 3 periods a week in which I need to do all my prep.
Now assume I want to assign an essay, as any good history teacher would want to do. Writing is re-writing, and re-writing means good feedback. So, if I am assigning an essay, I have to actually grade it. Let’s assume that I can grade an essay in 5 minutes. Do the math with me: 160 essays x 5 minutes per grade = 800 minutes which = 13 hours.
Reminder, I get 3-4 50 minute preps per week. If I am being generous, I can give myself two after school periods of 50 minutes as well (we have mandatory clubs and tutoring after school). Best case scenario, I have 5 hours of prep time in one 5 day week.
The math doesn’t math. Grading will take 13 hours. So, I can either take 2.5 weeks to grade, or, grade from home. Writing is re-writing, which means that any meaningful grade needs to come quick enough that students can re-write with the information fresh in their mind. Ideally, I need to get those essays graded within a week. Therefore, to do my job well, I HAVE to work outside of contract hours. There is literally not an option if I want the students to actually learn good writing skills. Furthermore, grading essays is ALL I could do on my prep…rather than the million other things I have to do.
Sweat Equity, amirite? This is the idea that education sells you. “Working in your unpaid time will only build up your classroom, build up the school, create an unparalleled school culture! Do you want to be a part of something? Do it for the kids!?” It’s the carrot on the stick, the swing on the porch. If you work hard, you’ll reap the reward of a job well executed.
But the job is never done. There is always always another essay to grade, always more content to prep, always something to print, or an email to send, or a student to talk to, or an IEP meeting, or a parent meeting, or a teacher meeting, or an admin meeting or an…it goes on and on. The task itself is never done, and if it is, then you are deemed “competent” and given leadership roles that fill up more of your plate until your staggering under the weight.
Some of you might be yelling at your screen. Maybe you’re saying “No, if I work really hard then my classroom will have rigor, the kids will have structure, and the kids will fall into a routine that makes them easier to teach. Working from home is worth it.”
My response is, yes, that might be true, but I think you lose more than you gain. Id also ask this question: are you allowed to take time off or leave early and get paid, without having to use your PTO? Because I know it doesn’t matter how much I work at home, if I have a doctors appointment after school, I have to take PTO for the last hour of my contract time, even though there are no kids in the classroom. Even if I am done with all my work. If I leave school early, it could be considered time theft.
But being a teacher already steals my time in a million different ways. Why is it time theft if teachers are not physically at school when they are working, but it’s not time theft by the school to create an environment where teachers are forced to work outside their contracted hours? Is it ethical for a school to put so much on teachers that they must work from home at least one day a week, but then nickel and dime their PTO, especially if the school day is done?
Ok, so what? Teachers being burnt out is not brand new information. Why am I choosing to blog about it?
My answer is simple. Sometimes I think we need to be reminded, myself included, that saying no is one of the most powerful things we can do as workers. If we all said no to unpaid labor, we might find that we get more time gained within our contract hours. And so I have an appeal to all my fellow teachers: stop sweating.
I know, I know. Easier said than done. You care about your kids, you care about your classroom, you care about your school and their culture. And that’s amazing, I care about all those things, too. But, that nice house that you’re working your ass off to build? It only exists for administration or for the district. And, I’m not saying they’re bad, I actually think admin has thier own version of sweat equity. BUT, your unpaid labor does more harm to you and your peace than it does good for your classroom.
Moving forward, I think that collectively, we as teachers should do our best to work only within contracted hours. It’s difficult, but it’s a good way to start setting boundaries. When you’re asked to take on extra work, don’t immediately say yes. First, ask two questions: Does the added responsibility come with a stipend? Will this added responsibility add to my CV in a positive way? For myself, I will typically only take on a new task if both those answers are yes. However, if the sweat equity translates into something extremely valuable on my CV, then I’ll consider taking it on. Investing in yourself is always a good investment.
Ultimately, though, teachers work so hard because we’re sold the idea that “we didn’t get into this job for the money” or “we knew we’d have to work outside of contract hours.” But that’s all a load of malarky and shenanigans. It’s all a lie we’ve been sold in part because our country doesn’t invest in education. Teachers work outside of contract hours because we’re shamed into thinking we have to. We work hard because the majority of us are women and we are well acquainted with the pain and promise of unpaid labor. But babes, it’s 2026 and Democracy might be crumbling. It’s time to set some boundaries.
It’s the only way to stop sweating.
“There is no end
To what a living world
Will demand of you.”
― Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Sower
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